Fresh Seafood?

[Mottmott]

When you buy still live shellfish, how do you choose? If you're running a restaurant, I assume you automatically get that little time ticket. What do you want to see on it?

Yesterday (Aug 25) I saw my first shipping label on a small sealed bag of Canadian mussels and need some help figuring it out. The time tag was inside the sealed plastic bag where it did me no good til I got home. THEN I read it was bagged Aug 18 and shipped Aug 19. With the exception of two which were broken and tossed, all were closed before cooking, all opened when steamed. But the cooked mussels looked really small within their shells.

So my quesstion is when it comes to seafood how fresh is fresh? Clearly the mussels were alive and edible. But it strikes me that unlike wine, mussels don't improve with time and 7-8 days out of the water can't be a good thing. Hey, and not even all wine improves with age.

How long out of the sea should Mussels, Clams, Crabs, Lobsters, Shrimp, Languistines, etc. be while they are still live? Should we treat farmed mussels like oyster and avoid in months without "R"? Or expect that, like lobster, summer is not their best season?

What do those who know, know to do?

[jayt90]

Forget the R months. That's old hat now.

Mussels should be sold on open, net type bags, so maybe yours were old, suffering, but alive enough to open under heat.

Most shrimp is sold frozen, or thawed.

Most crab is cooked and frozen, or canned, in my area.

You've asked a lot of questions, all with different answers. You need to talk to a good fishmonger.

[Mottmott]

So you agree 7-8 days is pushing the limit on mussels, clams, etc.? I actually don't pay too much attention to the "R" months.

The problem is I thought I was going to a good fishmonger. I go way out of my way to get there. And generally I've had good luck there. I was shocked at how old these mussels were.

Ippolito's is the retail associate of Samuels (not sure of the exact nature of their association), the company that distributes fish to the best restaurants in town, including Le Bec Fin. I'm beginning to wonder if Ippolito's is selling the "leftovers" from the restaurant trade.

[Susan in FL]

I think it also depends on where you live and whether you're buying local... how fortunate you might be about what's nearby. I'm spoiled here with fresh local shrimp for example. Used to be living up north that we bought frozen shrimp, but now I've developed a strong preference for fresh. On the other hand, up north, we went "musseling"... We got in the boat and pulled our own from the banks and cooked them that night. Now, to judge the freshness of mussels, we sort of knock on them and if they close up immediately, they're fresh enough. Clams, the same. We used to go clamming or buy them just two or three days out of the water. The shells would be real dark if they were nice and fresh. As they got older, they got lighter in color and dried up some. So I think I agree that a week is pushing the limit for clams and mussels. Oysters, bought fresh, we have kept cold for no more than a week.

Here in this part of Florida clams are not such a big deal. Freshly caught fish is more of a big deal. When I go to the seafood market, I often ask what was most recently swimming in the water and we have fish caught within the past day or two. If I need a certain fish for a specific recipe, and it's not something caught locally, I make sure I can trust the word of the people in the market about how fresh it is.

Crabs and lobster... Fresh enough if they are alive and kicking.

Hope this helps.

[jayt90]

James Beard, in his Fish cookbook, used to recommend freshening mussels in a salt water and flour bath, for a few hours. I never had any luck with this, and then farmed mussels from P.E.I. became available and were usually fresh and plump, without the beards. But once in awhile they are small-fleshed, so I guess that is part of the shell game in that industry.

Susan, I agree that fresh shrimp are much better than frozen, even if they smaller and from a muddy bay. The frozen, farmed shrimp often have a barnyard scent, and it is not the one you get in expensive burgundies.

[Susan in FL]

James Beard, in his Fish cookbook, used to recommend freshening mussels in a salt water and flour  bath, for a few hours.  I never had any luck with this, and then farmed mussels from P.E.I. became available and were usually fresh and plump, without the beards. But once in awhile they are small-fleshed, so I guess that is part of the shell game in that industry.

Yeah, I've read about a cornmeal and water bath for "cleaning" mussels, clams, or oysters. Seems salt would be of benefit too, maybe for flavoring/brining some of the farm-raised. ...?

Susan, I agree that fresh shrimp are much better than frozen, even if they smaller and from a muddy bay. The frozen, farmed shrimp often have a barnyard scent, and it is not the one you get in expensive burgundies.

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LOL, good description.